Watching This Week #111

Hi, and happy Victoria Day to those that observe. You're reading the May 22, 2023, edition of Watching This Week, the weekly newsletter from Where Can I Watch – covering the latest news on where TV shows and movies will be available in Canada.

The news from the past week has focused on the U.S. broadcast networks' fall schedules, but read on after this week's listings for news about the arrival of Jury Duty in Canada, plus we answer mailbag questions about the latest seasons of The Bear, Godfather of Harlem, and Temptation Island.

What's new this week – May 22–28

Compiled from our monthly listings and/or any subsequent updates we've come across. We strive for accuracy but schedules may change without notice. Some series/seasons may have weekly rollouts; we won't list new episodes every week (though we may note significant episodes such as series finales). *An asterisk denotes programming added in past weeks that we've learned about (or has been rescheduled) since our last newsletter.

• Netflix: The Creature Cases ("chapter 3" – Monday); MerPeople (docuseries – Tuesday); Victim/Suspect (documentary – Tuesday); Wanda Sykes: I'm an Entertainer (stand-up special – Tuesday); The Ultimatum: Queer Love (reality spinoff – Wednesdays); FUBAR (action series starring Arnold Schwarzenegger – Thursday); Barbecue Showdown (season 2 – Friday); Blood & Gold (German film – Friday); Tin & Tina (Spanish horror film – Friday)
• Disney+: Abbott Elementary (season 2, already aired on Global – Wednesday); American Born Chinese (action comedy series – Wednesday); Chip 'n' Dale: Park Life (season 2 – Wednesday); The Clearing (Australian series – Wednesdays); Crazy Love (Korean series – Wednesday); Dr. Romantic (season 3 – Wednesday); Entrelazados (season 2 – Wednesday); Link: Eat, Love Kill (Korean series – Wednesday); Secrets of the Elephants (recent Nat Geo docuseries – Wednesday); The Kardashians (season 3 – Thursdays)
• Crave: Clone High (Max revival of the 2002 animated series – Tuesday); Shazam! Fury of the Gods (2023 DC film – Tuesday); Little Bird (Canadian limited series – Fridays); Marvelous and the Black Hole (2022 comedy film – Friday); Minari (2021 A24 film – Friday); series finales of HBO's Succession and Barry (Sunday)
• Prime Video: Jury Duty (comedy reality series produced for Freevee U.S. starring James Marsden – Monday, May 15*); Bholaa (2023 Indian film – Wednesday); James May: Oh Cook (season 2 – Wednesday); Cold Pursuit (2019 action film – Thursday); A+ (Indonesian miniseries – Thursday); Battle on Buka Street (2022 Nigerian film – Friday); The Gryphon (German fantasy series – Friday); Libre de Reir (Mexican drama series – Friday); The [Devil's] Offering (2023 horror-thriller film – Friday); Women Talking (2022 drama film – Sunday)
• CBC Gem: Colin & Justin's Hotel from Hell (Canada-set British docuseries – Friday)
• Paramount+ (also available as a channel on Prime Video and Apple TV): Afghan Dreamers (2022 documentary – Tuesday); The Fire that Took Her (MTV true-crime doc – Tuesday); The Gymnasts (Italian drama series – Friday)
• Apple TV+: Prehistoric Planet (season 2 – episodes released daily Monday through Friday); Platonic (comedy series – Wednesday)
• Showcase (also on StackTV): Bupkis (Peacock comedy series – Thursdays); Code 404 (season 3 – Thursdays)
• Discovery: Aussie Gold Hunters: Mine SOS (Tuesdays)
• FX (also on Citytv+): Mayans M.C. (season 5 – Wednesdays)
• AMC (available on AMC+ on Prime Video and Apple TV):
• AMC+ (available on Prime Video and Apple TV) and Acorn TV: Happy Valley (season 3 – Mondays)
• Starz (also available as an add-on/channel on Crave, Prime Video, and Apple TV): Run the World (season 2 – Fridays)
• Hollywood Suite (also available as a channel on Prime Video): A Year in Film (season 4, with episodes focusing on 1973, 1985, 1999, and 2010 – episodes released daily Thursday through Sunday*)

This week in deals

As a reminder, we may get an affiliate commission for services you sign up for through links in this newsletter, which helps support our site maintenance, at no additional cost to you. Prices are in Canadian dollars before applicable sales taxes, and may change in the future.

• Reader Inge recently asked if we could repost the links to the current offer for free months of Apple TV+. There are, in fact, two versions of this offer currently available, both for two months each. This one runs until June 2, while this one runs until July 7. Both are available to new and "qualified returning" subscribers as determined by Apple, and it's unlikely you can stack both.

Programming news

• Announcements about the U.S. broadcast networks' fall schedules continued this past week. With all indications being that the Writers Guild of America strike will continue for a few more months, ABC has already determined it won't be able to premiere new seasons of its scripted series until midseason, with the fall lineup consisting of unscripted series like the returning Dancing with the Stars, delayed summer game shows like Press Your Luck, Disney movies on Sundays, and one hour of Abbott Elementary reruns on Wednesday nights.
   
  The CW, meanwhile, will be devoting almost two full nights of its fall schedule to Canadian programming (three if you count the Canadian-produced I Am documentary film franchise, which was originally ordered by Paramount Network).
   
  The Canadian networks typically announce their own plans in early June, but considering how much is in flux, we wouldn't be surprised if they wait a bit longer to announce their own schedules – even if we get announcements about programming pickups on the usual timeline.
   
• As you may have noticed in the listings above, the Freevee reality series Jury Duty finally arrived on Prime Video in Canada this past Monday, more than a month after its U.S. premiere. It's still not clear why there was a delay, but it's available now.
   
• British docuseries The Last Overland: Singapore to London, about a recreation of the 1955 Land Rover journey documented in a book titled The First Overland as well as a BBC documentary produced by a young Sir David Attenborough, which premiered last fall in the UK on Channel 4's streaming platform, will premiere in Canada on BBC Earth on Thursday, June 1.
   
• Added May 22 midday: We'd meant to note as well that a number of outlets are reporting that Disney will be removing a number of short-lived or otherwise little-watched titles from its streaming platforms as early as this coming Friday, apparently as tax writeoffs and/or to reduce residuals payments, as some other services have done in recent months. So, if you were meaning to get around to watch those Mighty Ducks or Willow spin-off series, the time to watch them on Disney+ is now, whether you're in Canada or anywhere else.

Mailbag

Here's some of the reader questions we've received recently by email (hello@wherecaniwatch.ca). We welcome questions of general interest, and publish a few of them (and our answers) from time to time; messages may be edited for brevity and clarity.

Kelly: Any news on when the third season of Godfather of Harlem will air in Canada? Citytv aired season 1, and then I was able to watch season 2 on Disney+. I assume the new season will also be on Disney+?

WCIW: We expect the new season of the ABC Signature-produced drama series starring Forest Whitaker, which premiered on MGM+ (formerly Epix) in the U.S. in January, will eventually be available on Disney+ in Canada. Unfortunately, we can't predict when that will be. We would suggest being prepared for a similar delay to the second season which premiered on Disney+ Canada in April 2022, eight months after the season ended stateside.

Derek: Disney recently announced that The Bear season 2 will premiere on Hulu on June 22.  Can we expect another delay before it appears on Disney+ in Canada?

WCIW: Again, unfortunately, a delay seems probable. The press release announcing the U.S. premiere of the new season of the critically-acclaimed FX series explicitly noted it "will be available on Star+ in Latin America and Disney+ in all other territories at a later date". So, again, be prepared for a similar delay compared to the first season of at least a month.

Cindy: I know [USA Network reality dating series] Temptation Island is airing a new season in mid-June. Will it be on E! in Canada again? Or CTV?

WCIW: While we haven't seen an explicit announcement from Bell Media about the new season yet, we would expect that, given its carriage of the series in past years, it will at least air on E! Canada this summer, with the possibility of an overnight weekend rebroadcast on CTV at a later date.

Thanks for reading – we greatly appreciate your support. If you like this newsletter, please consider forwarding to a friend who might be interested, or if you're in a position to do so, support our hosting costs with a paid subscription, which includes access to our movie streaming rights database, or on a one-time basis via our Buy Me a Coffee page.

If you're new to Watching This Week, you can catch up on past editions here, and sign up to receive future editions on our website at https://www.wherecaniwatch.ca/newsletter/. Or, if you're reading this on the web, you can use the form directly below.

We'll see you again next week.